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The Maze Runner
The Maze Runner is a 2014 American dystopian science fiction action thriller film directed by Wes Ball and based on the novel of the same name by James Dashner. The film is the first installment in the Maze Runner film series, and was produced by Gotham Group, Temple Hill Entertainment, and TSG Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was released on September 19, 2014. A sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, was released on September 18, 2015. A third and final film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, was released on January 26, 2018. Plot A teenage boy wakes up in an underground elevator with no memory of his identity. He appears in a large grassy area surrounded by stone walls, and is greeted by a group of male youths who call it the "Glade" and call themselves "Gladers". The Gladers have formed a rudimentary society where each one of them has been assumed specialized tasks. Their leader, Alby, says that every boy eventually recalls his name but not his past. The boy learns that the only way out is a vast Maze surrounding the area. Designated Runners search the Maze during the day for a way out, making sure to return upon nightfall before the entrance closes. No one has ever survived a night in the Maze. While in competition with another boy named Gally, the boy suddenly remembers his name: Thomas. The next day, he is attacked by another boy, Ben, who has been stung by a Griever - deadly techno-organic creatures who roam the Maze at night - and become delirious. Ben is then forced into the Maze and left to die, as there is no cure for his condition. Alby and Minho, the lead Runner, later retrace Ben's steps inside the Maze, where Alby is stung by a Griever. The pair return at dusk, but are unable to reach the entrance before it closes and become trapped. Thomas runs in to help them, leaving all three of them trapped. They are attacked by a Griever, which Thomas lures into being crushed and killed in a closing passageway. The trio manage to survive the night and return to the Glade the next morning. The elevator brings a girl, the first one ever, to the Glade with a note saying that she is the last one to enter. She seems to recognize Thomas, though he does not remember her. Thomas, Minho, Frypan, Winston, and Dart enter the Maze, locate the dead Griever, and remove a beeping mechanical device from its corpse. Gally wants Thomas punished, claiming that he has jeopardized the fragile peace between the youths and Grievers, but his second-in-command, Newt, instead has Thomas designated as Runner. Minho shows Thomas a hand-constructed model of the Maze based on previous exploration. The Maze's numbered sections open and close in a regular sequence. Thomas realizes that the device corresponds to a section within the Maze. The girl, Teresa, has two syringes filled with an unknown substance, one of which is given to Alby, who recovers from his Griever sting. Minho and Thomas venture back into the Maze with the device and discover a possible exit. The pair are scanned by a laser and the exit closes. The lasers also activate traps, which nearly kill the boys and force them to flee. That night, while other entrances begin to open, the Maze entrance does not close, Grievers pour in, sparking a massacre in which the Gladers struggle to fight back or hide. Several are killed, including Alby, Zart, and Clint. Gally angrily punches Thomas, blaming him for everything that has happened. Thomas, who has been having disconnected memory flashes since he arrived, stabs himself with a Griever stinger in an attempt to revive his memory, and the others inject him with the last anti-venom. He unconsciously recalls that he and Teresa worked for W.C.K.D., the organization that created the Maze and the boys have unknowingly been test subjects for an experiment. Thomas awakens and shares this information with Newt, Minho, Chuck, and Teresa and, after revealing himself and the latter, confesses that they worked with W.C.K.D. and have studied the boys for years. Meanwhile, Gally has taken command and intends to sacrifice Thomas and Teresa to the Grievers in an effort to restore peace, but some of the other Gladers form a group and free them. They then enter the Maze in an attempt to find an escape, while Gally and a few others refuse to leave. The group fight Grievers as they go, in which Jeff and several other Gladers are killed. The Gladers enter a laboratory strewn with corpses, and a video recording of a woman named Ava Paige, who explains that the planet has been devastated by a massive solar flare, followed by a pandemic of a deadly virus called the Flare. The teens learn that they were part of an experiment studying for a cure. The video ends with Paige shooting herself as the laboratory is attacked by armed men. Gally suddenly appears, having been stung by a Griever and insists that they must remain in the Maze. He aims the gun at Thomas, but is pierced through the chest by a spear from Minho, though Chuck is fatally shot. Masked men then rush in and take the remaining survivors to a helicopter that flies them over a vast desert wasteland and towards a ruined city. The scene ends with the supposedly dead scientists meeting in a room. Paige notes that the experiment has been successful; the survivors are now entering Phase Two. Cast * Dylan O'Brien as Thomas * Kaya Scodelario as Teresa * Aml Ameen as Alby * Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt * Ki Hong Lee as Minho * Will Poulter as Gally * Patricia Klarkson as Ava Paige * Blake Cooper as Chuck * Dexter Darren as Frypan * Jacob Latimore as Jeff * Chris Sheffield as Ben * Joe Adler as Zart * Randall D. Cunningham as Clint * Alexander Flores as Winston * Don McManus as Masked Man Category:Films Category:20th Century Fox films Category:Live-action films Category:Science-fiction films Category:Dystopian films Category:Action films Category:Thriller films Category:PG 13-rated films Category:Films based on Books Category:2010s films Category:2014 films